As always, Glenn Greenwald's column is eminently insightful, intelligent, and pertinent. The one fault I find is a slight tinge of handwringing.

Unwring those hands, Glenn! Change is on the way. Actually, change is constant, as noted by sages as varied as Heraclitus, Marx, Isaac Asimov, and Thomas Kuhn. There are three factors to look at as change looms on the horizon: Global Warming, the unsustainability of our economic system, and all the other "countries" on this planet. These factors are interdependent, and the changes that are pending will be synergystic and monumental. An entertainment-oriented news industry will find itself under extreme pressure to adjust to these changes.

As I have noted elsewhere, the Bush criminal regime is both the end result of a frivolous and enabling news media and a catalyst for change. It takes a lot to hold a society together, and it has to effectively hold to a certain level of social contract. People have to agree to drive on the right side of the street, for example, and pay for what they buy. Businesses have to provide safe and useful products, and pay honest wages to their employees. When the example at the top is complete lawlessness, it filters throughout the social order. Antecedent yields consequence, cause yields effect, sow yields reap.

One example of the changes that are already taking place is Salon. Writers here are not likely to be making big money, but the quality is at the highest level. As the synergy among the various factors of change intensifies, we can hope and expect Salon to grow in influence and readership. The handwringing will be at Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and their imitators. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

I don't think we need to be concerned about the political future of Condoleeza Rice. She is a key member of a criminal gang that illegally and with malice aforethought seized control of the Federal Government. As long as this criminal gang fails in its attempt to bomb and invade Iran, justice may yet be served.

The real test here is of us, the citizens of the United States of America, in our ability to recognize and properly respond to the presence of a criminal organization at the top of our governmental structure. Bush, Cheney, Rice, and the all-too-numerous other sociopaths that operate the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our Federal government really don't amount to much as human beings, and will fade from the scene shortly. What does matter is the future of the planet, of life on the planet, and if our system can survive such criminality.

I actually think of Bush as a blessing in disguise. What if he were brilliant, an evil mastermind who schemed successfully to hold the entire world at bay, to institute a crony capitalist police state that would be beyond our present imagination?

We are lucky he is an inarticulate, bumbling incompetent. His perfidy has ruined it for the power elite that backed his reign of stupidity. We may actually get a real democracy thanks to him. All hail George W. Bush, idiot king! Pose again for another photo op! Ride a motorcycle! A hot air baloon! Go bungee jumping! Dress up as an astronaut! Wear a Patton outfit! A football uniform! Biker! Indian chief! Cowboy! Construction worker! Policeman! Make a disco album!

It has been surreal, but if we are lucky, we will have learned a great lesson from having had this regime in power. If we want to survive as a country and as a species, we can never let this happen again. Never!

I hope I've fallen for the "Video Dog" enticements for the last time. In the realm of video usability, this one ranks as probably the worst. Every last time I "click here to play" I end up waiting and waiting for nothing.

Though putting videos on the Web is not rocket science, for some reason this feature calls for rocket science to actually see the video that is heralded. Not being a rocket scientist, I vacate the page, and go back to reading.

I'm sure to the insider this feature is simple. Enjoy it to your heart's content. I'll stick with YouTube.

This is a really moving story. The most touching is the part about the Hagel brothers' upbringing. It is amazing that they did so well after such a start in life.

I still have a hard time believing that senators - except Russ Feingold and a few others - could not see that the Bush gang was lying us into war. The world they live in is a strange one indeed. Chuck Hagel's "conservatism" is also a mystery. The key word in that part of the story is "ambition."

A tale for another day is Hagel's part-ownership in the voting machine company that counted the votes in his two Senate victories (read about it here: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm). We do not live in a black and white world. Hagel can be honorable in condemning the "Iraq" "war" and still be a vote fraudster. As we get closer to his candidacy for president, maybe the truth will emerge. I would not vote for him no matter who his opponent is, except maybe Joe Lieberman.